Improvement in dies for forming hats



NiTE-o STATES" PATENT ',EFICE.,

BOBEBT T. wILDE ANDl sAMUEL H. LYON, OE BBOOKLYN, NEw YOBK"Vr IMPROVEMENT IN DIES FOR FRMING HATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,993. dated March 24, 1363.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT T. WILBE and SAMUEL H. LYON, both of the city Vof Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dies or Blocks for Pressing and Forming Hats and other Goverin gs for the Head 5 and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiication.

This invention is applicable to all dies and blocks, whether of metal or other material, on the exterior of which the bodies of hats or other coverings for the head are pressed or formed either by the use of an external die by ironing by hand or by other means. Its object is to provide for the pressing and formingof crowns of bell or other shapewhich renders the successful use of a solid die or block impracticable owing to the difficulty of removing the hat therefrom; and it consists in a cert-ain construction and arrangement of aseries of pieces of which the die or block is composed, and a certain mode ot' combining and operating the same by which the above result is obtained.

Figures land 2 are central, vertical sections of die for forming a bell-crowned hat constructed according to my invention, showing it in two different conditions, the portion upon which the brim is formed being omitted as unnecessary' for the illustration of my invention. Fig. 3 is a view ofthe under side of the same. Fig. 4 is a top view of the same with the top plate removed to expose the interior.

Similar letters of refe-rence indicate corresponding-parts in the several figures.

The lower portion7 A, of the die is made of one piece of a form corresponding with that intended for the lower portion of the hat, and in this piece there is an opening, a. c, across which a stout bar, B, is iirmly secured by screws b b. The top piece, C, consists of a plate of a form corresponding with that of the top ofthe crown, but no larger in any direction than the lower part of the piece A, so that it might draw out from the hat after the pressing and forming of the saine; and this plate is bolted securely to the bar B B by screws c c, and thereby secured firmly to the bottom piece, A, with its lower face parallel with thek upper face of that piece. Between A and C two side pieces, D D, and l'ron t and back pieces., E E, are tit-ted in such inanneras to be capable of sliding toward and from the center of y the block. The outer faces ot'these pieces arel so formed that when the said pieces are moved outward as far as permitted the said faces combine with each other and assume a proper relation to A and O to form the flaring por# tion of the die, the upper part of which is 'of much larger circumference than the portion A below, and which projects beyond the Outer edges of the plate C, the upper surface otf which is beveled or rounded off toward the edge in such manner as to makethe edge sharp, and to make it combine with the upper surfaces of the pieces l) D E E, as shown in Fig. 1, without forming a ridge. The two' pieces E E are secured iirmly by screws c e to twoslides, F F, which are fitted to slidef-V toward and from each other on two parallelf guide-rods, G Gr, which are secured by setir screws g g to the block B, and the said piecesare made wedgeshaped, as shown at f f, to lit between Oblique surfaces i t on the side pieces, D D, in such manner that when they themselves move outward from the center of the block they also, by their wedge-like action, cause the side pieces, D D, to move Outward at the same time. The ends of the slides F F are fitted to mortises iu the side pieces D D,and are fitted with pins dd, which enter slots /L h in the said side pieces, the said slots being arranged Oblique] y and parallel with the surfaces t' i, upon which the wedge-like action of the pieces E E takes place, the purpose of the said pins being to draw the pieces D D inward or toward each other by their action in the slots h It when the pieces E E are drawn inward or toward each other.

H is a double-slotted cam arranged within the bottom piece, A, and secured iirmly to a shaft, I, which is fitted to turn in a bearing provided for it in the bar B.

jj are pins secured in and projecting below the slides F F, and entering the slots k k in the cam H, in which they are fitted with anti-friction rollers l l. The said cam is furnished with a crank-handle, K, by which to turn it by hand in either direction, for the purpose ot' moving all the pieces D D E E simultaneouly inward or outward, as may be desired, the slots kk acting through the rollers il l and pins j j upon the'slides F F, Which carry the front and back pieces, E E, and the Wedge-faces ff and pins d d, operating, as before described, upon the side pieces, D D.l

In setting out the pieces D D EE they are stopped in the proper position for their outer surfaces to combine with the outer surfaces of A and C in such lnanner as to produce the proper form of the die by the pins d d, arriving at the outer ends of the slots h h.

Before placing the hat body or the piece of felt-cloth or other material of which the body is to be formed upon the die or block the cam K is turned to a position to move the pieces D D E E inward far enough to bring` them Within the outer edges of the plate C and bottom piece, A, as illustrated in Fig.` 2.

. In the case ofa die to be used in combination with an outer die for pressing and forming the hat-body at oneoperatiomthe material ofwhich the body is to be formed is placed over it, and the outer die brought down upon it While in this condition, ard after the outer die has been brought doWn,the cam is turned in a direetion to expand or move out the piecesI) D E E to the condition illustrated in Fig. l, for the `purpose of producing the bell form ofthe body. After the die has been retained in the abov( described position for a sufficient length of time toform the body, the cam is turned in a direction to @raw in the pieces D D E E in the manner shown in Fig. 2, and by that means the upper or outer die is permitted to be raised and the hat-body to be taken on, neither ot which operations could be done while. the said pieces set out beyond the piece A,Which forms the smaller portion of the body below the bellshaped portion.

In the case of a block on which hatbodies are pressed by irons used in the hands, the manipulation of the cam is the same-that is to say, it is firstturned to contract or draw in the piecesfD D E E, and made to hold them in that condition until the hat-body has been put on, after which it is turned in the opposite direct-ion to expand or set out the said pieces, and made to hold them out until the pressing has been nished, when it is turned back again to draw in the said pieces for the purpose oi' permitting the removal of the hatbody from the block.

- We do not claim the manufacture ot' a hatblock ot' two or more pieces but What We cla-im as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination ot' a xed bottom piece, A, a iixed top piece, C, and a series of interposed expanding pieces, D D E E, the Whole constructed and 4arran ged to operate substantially as herein specified, for the purpose set forth.

2. So combining the several expanding' pieces D D E E with each other and with a cam, H, attached to the die or block, thatlhev said pieces may be operated simultaneously,

as herein described, to produce the contraef.

tion and expansion ofthe die or block Without the removal and reinseition ot' any portion of the die or block.

' R. T. WILDE. v S. H. LYON. Witnesses Gr. W. REED, HENRY T. BROWN. 

